Long Yuehong thought Shang Jianyao would echo his sentiments and comfort him, but to his surprise, the other man didn't say a word. He just walked straight ahead, as if he hadn't heard anything at all.
Long Yuehong opened his mouth, wanting to repeat himself, but ultimately didn't say it. He just sighed silently.
After walking in silence for a while, the two arrived at the Fourth Elevator Zone, located in a corner of Area C.
While waiting for the elevator to arrive, Long Yuehong felt that time was passing very slowly, every second was tormenting, making his breathing difficult.
Finally, the elevator on the left opened its doors.
After entering, Shang Jianyao swiped his electronic card and lit up the button marked 647.
The doors then closed, and the elevator began to ascend.
Watching the floor numbers change, Shang Jianyao suddenly spoke, his voice low:
"Everyone has their own mission."
Long Yuehong paused for two seconds and smiled bitterly:
"I just want to stay inside the company, find a good wife, and have two cute children, a boy and a girl, and then try to make sure they can eat meat three times a week..."
His voice trailed off, as if he already felt that such a goal was impossible to achieve.
Shang Jianyao didn't say anything more, and Long Yuehong didn't know what to say, either. The two stood there silently, making the time inside the elevator seem to stand still.
After an unknown amount of time, the elevator stopped at the 647th floor.
Long Yuehong walked out, looking down as he asked:
"Shang Jianyao, what were you thinking about just now? I was thinking, it's a good thing I have a younger brother and sister."
"Spacing out," Shang Jianyao said, looking straight ahead.
"...You have such a good attitude," Long Yuehong couldn't help but sigh.
"After all, I applied for this myself," Shang Jianyao cast his gaze to the right, checking the door numbers.
"..." Long Yuehong was speechless and followed, looking for Room 14.
Unlike the 495th floor, the 647th floor wasn't divided into several streets, and the rooms weren't separated by only two or three meters.
Here, everything revolved around "training grounds," with several good-sized rooms surrounding each one.
Soon, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong arrived outside Room 14.
There was no nameplate on the door, making it impossible for them to guess which team, which squad, or which group of the Security Department this belonged to.
Long Yuehong opened his mouth and took a deep breath, preparing to adjust his mindset and face his destiny.
Just then, Shang Jianyao, without any hesitation, raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The sound came a little suddenly, interrupting Long Yuehong's deep breathing.
He was about to complain to Shang Jianyao when a slightly hoarse female voice came from inside:
"Come in."
Shang Jianyao turned the handle and pushed the door open.
Long Yuehong immediately looked inside, giving the room a quick scan.
The room was at least three times larger than his apartment. At the far end, there was a desk painted in brownish-red lacquer and two large bookshelves.
Along the left wall, there were three tables, black in color and quite old.
The middle and right areas served as a "living room," with a set of battered fabric sofas, a coffee table, four chairs with backrests, two benches, and four short stools.
At this moment, a woman stood up from the single sofa and looked towards the door.
She was in her twenties, nearly 1.8 meters tall, with excellent proportions of head, body, and legs. Her skin was wheat-colored, and her black hair was neatly tied into a ponytail behind her head.
Unlike the girls commonly seen in the "living area," she was wearing a "Security Department" uniform - gray with some camouflage patterns, making her look heroic and valiant.
Her features were also well-suited to this attire, with thick eyebrows and large, spirited eyes.
"You're the new team members?" The woman smiled brightly and cheerfully, but her voice was a bit loud.
"Yes, yes, we are," Long Yuehong said, a little restrained upon seeing such an unusually beautiful woman with such a different temperament.
The woman frowned slightly:
"Speak louder."
Her voice had a kind of indescribable clarity, clearly not the person who had said "Come in" earlier.
Long Yuehong was startled, thinking he had somehow offended his superior.
Shang Jianyao took a step forward and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Yes!"
His voice echoed in the room and out into the hallway.
The woman smiled again and pointed to her ears:
"You don't have to be so loud. I just have a hearing problem, I'm not deaf."
Long Yuehong followed her fingers and saw silver-white metal objects in her ears.
"Cochlear implants," the woman said frankly.
She immediately retracted her smile and said in a voice much louder than normal:
"Let me introduce myself, I am your team leader, Jiang Baimian.
"Speaking of team leader, I haven't reached D7 level yet, currently only D6."
"Yes, Team Leader," Long Yuehong responded loudly.
"Hello, Team Leader!" Shang Jianyao seemed very happy.
Jiang Baimian pointed to the sofa:
"She's another team member, Bai Chen."
Bai Chen was probably only 1.6 meters tall. Although she was also wearing a gray camouflage uniform, she looked much smaller and more delicate than Jiang Baimian.
She had a dusty, old scarf wrapped around her neck, her black hair was just past her ears, her features were fairly delicate, and her skin was quite rough, as if she was often exposed to the wind and rain.
Unlike Jiang Baimian's dark brown eyes, her eyes were closer to yellowish-brown.
"Hello," Bai Chen greeted in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Hello," Long Yuehong was still a bit restrained.
"Hello!" Shang Jianyao's voice was still very loud.
Jiang Baimian pointed to the coffee table and said loudly:
"Find a place to sit yourself. Oh right, introduce yourselves first."
"Shang Jianyao!" As soon as Jiang Baimian finished speaking, Shang Jianyao shouted out his name, then casually closed the door, picked up his lunch box, walked over, and sat down on a chair with a backrest.
"I'm Long Yuehong. My dad's surname is Long, and my mom's name has the character 'Hong' in it," Long Yuehong subconsciously explained the origin of his name. Then, he sat down on the chair next to Shang Jianyao's.
Jiang Baimian sat down, looked around, and said with a smile:
"Now that everyone's here, I'll briefly explain the situation of our team."
"Everyone's here?" Long Yuehong blurted out.
Only four people?
Shouldn't a "Security Department" team have more than twenty people?
Jiang Baimian was taken aback:
"What did you say?"
"He said there are too few people!" Shang Jianyao helped translate.
Jiang Baimian's eyebrows relaxed, and she said with a smile:
"We're not a combat team."
Not a combat team? Long Yuehong's heart leaped with joy.
Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao and said:
"Our team's full name is the 'Old World Destruction Cause Investigation Team,' abbreviated as the 'Old Task Force.'
"However, I'm not the only Old Task Force. Whether it's the Security Department or the Board of Directors, there are other Old Task Forces, but we don't know each other's specific situations.
"Remember! This is important, a matter of confidentiality!
"Uh, there's no need to worry about duplicate investigations. Although we don't know which other Old Task Forces there are or what their progress is, the higher-ups will share the latest and most valuable clues with us."
Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian paused, and her expression became serious:
"Compared to ordinary combat teams, the 'Old World Destruction Cause Investigation Team' may face more and greater dangers.
"Why are there so many miniature teams undertaking the same mission? It's because there used to be only one Old Task Force, with a large number of personnel. Then, during one external investigation, they completely disappeared, no one returned, and the corresponding losses were very heavy and difficult to make up for."
Long Yuehong's face turned pale:
"T-that's so dangerous..."
"What did you say?" Jiang Baimian only saw Long Yuehong's mouth moving and hardly heard any sound.
Long Yuehong subconsciously looked at Shang Jianyao and found that he had a serious expression, maintaining silence, with no intention of helping him translate.
Long Yuehong took a breath and shouted loudly:
"So dangerous?"
After shouting this, he found that his emotions had eased a lot.
Jiang Baimian nodded:
"The Old Task Force may go deep into the wilderness, investigate urban ruins, and may also go to other factions to look for clues. We will face all kinds of situations and encounter all kinds of enemies.
"It can be said that even senior employees of the Security Department are not too willing to join the Old Task Force."
Long Yuehong's face became even paler:
"Why are we so unlucky?"
After muttering to himself, he shouted:
"Why are we so unlucky?"
Jiang Baimian looked around with slight confusion:
"I'm not unlucky... I wasn't assigned here. Our Old Task Force was actually established at my request."
She smiled and added:
"I have always believed that we need to understand the cause of the Old World's destruction. Only in this way can we avoid making the same mistakes, find the root of the Mindless Disease, and free all of humanity from this fear.
"Moreover, you have also heard rumors that deep within the ruins of a certain city on the graylands, there is a door leading to the New World. If we never explore it, we will never enter the New World and will forever be accompanied by famine, infection, distortion, and monsters.
"This is my dream, so I took the initiative to apply to the Security Department's high-level management, hoping to establish a new Old Task Force.
"Hehe, I also like to excavate the past history from urban ruins, like to observe the social conditions of other forces, and come into contact with different people and things in different places and states."
Bai Chen, who was sitting quietly on the sofa, suddenly said:
"I heard someone mention you. He said you were a 'sociologist,' his goddess."
Jiang Baimian chuckled and said:
"Ah, what did you say? I didn't hear the last thing you said. Never mind, never mind. Tell us about your own situation."
Bai Chen looked at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong and said in a slightly hoarse voice:
"I voluntarily applied to join. You may be able to tell that I am not an internal employee of the company. I used to be a wasteland wanderer. Later, I was absorbed by the company. I don't have the qualifications of a formal employee yet, and the Old Task Force can help me achieve this goal as soon as possible, and improve my employee level as soon as possible. By then, I will be qualified to apply for genetic modification."
Jiang Baimian tilted her head, as if she hadn't heard Bai Chen's words clearly.
She asked with a smile:
"Is she talking bad about me behind my back?
"Hehe, we will definitely be active in the wilderness often, and we need a guide who is familiar with the wilderness and has dealt with multiple forces and multiple settlements. Don't look at her age, she has a lot of experience."
After speaking, Jiang Baimian looked at Shang Jianyao:
"I've seen your file, and I can probably guess the reason why you applied to join the Old Task Force.
"Besides that incident, are there any other reasons?"
"To save all of humanity!" Shang Jianyao said loudly.
Jiang Baimian's expression froze for a moment, and she raised her hand to touch her ear:
"Ah, what did you say?
"Hehe, no need to repeat it. Long Yuehong, why did you join?"
"I was assigned here... I just graduated this year and I'm unmarried..." Long Yuehong said with a mournful expression.
After speaking, he reacted and repeated it loudly.
Jiang Baimian blinked:
"Among so many people, you are the only one who didn't succeed in getting married?
"Among so many graduates, you may be the only one who was assigned to the Security Department, and even to the Old Task Force?"
Long Yuehong nodded heavily.
Jiang Baimian thought for a while and smiled gently:
"People like you, we generally call children of destiny."
ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~